1.
Vanderbilt Commodores football
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The Vanderbilt Commodores football program represents Vanderbilt University in the sport of American football. The Commodores compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and they are currently coached by former Tennessee Titans wide receiver Derek Mason. Vanderbilt plays their games at Vanderbilt Stadium, located on the universitys Nashville. Adopting the nickname the Commodores after the 1897 season, the team has played in 1,250 games over 126 seasons. In that time, six coaches have led the Commodores to a bowl appearance, Art Guepe, Steve Sloan, George MacIntyre, Bobby Johnson, James Franklin. Four have led them to a championship, R. G. Acton, W. H. Watkins, James H. Henry. McGugin is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 198 victories during his thirty years at Vanderbilt and he was awarded two National Championships retroactively by Clyde Berryman. Of the twenty-eight different head coaches who have led the Commodores, McGugin, Ray Morrison, Henry Russell Sanders, the current head coach is Derek Mason. Ole Miss is Vanderbilts cross-divisional rival in the SEC, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss have played 87 times since 1894. Ole Miss leads the series 50–38–2, the largest margin of victory was by 91 points won by Vanderbilt in 1915. Vanderbilt also holds the longest win streaks in the series from 1894 to 1938, having started in 1893, the Georgia-Vanderbilt football series has been played annually since 1968. The two are divisional opponents in the SEC East, the two are divisional opponents in the SEC East. The series, which rotates between Nashville, Tennessee and Lexington, Kentucky, is tied at 42–42–4 with the score being Vanderbilt 17-Kentucky 15.6. Vanderbilt and Tennessee have played 107 times since 1892, Tennessee leads the series 75–30–5, when the rivalry first started Vanderbilt dominated by taking 19 of the first 24 with 3 ties. After 1928, UT has dominated the rivalry with a record of Vanderbilt 71–11–2, the largest margin of victory for Vanderbilt was by 76 points in 1918 at Old Dudley Field in Nashville. The largest defeat was 65 points in 1994 at Vanderbilt Stadium, the longest win streaks for Vanderbilt is from 1901 to 1913. The longest win streak for Tennessee is 22, from 1983 to 2004, Vanderbilt and the Sewanee Tigers were both founding members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the Southern Conference, and the Southeastern Conference. It is the oldest of Vanderbilts rivalries, dating back to 1891 when Vanderbilt played its football game
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Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
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The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS football programs were members of this conference at some point, the SIAA was founded on December 21,1894, by Dr. William Dudley, a chemistry professor at Vanderbilt, at the Kimball House in Atlanta. Dudley was a member of the Vanderbilt Athletic Association, formed in 1886 with Dr. W. M. Baskerville as president, most students at Vanderbilt were members. The early sports played on the Vanderbilt campus were baseball, bicycling, Dudley was primarily responsible for the formation of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Sewanees opposition stopped it from occurring, the original members were Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Sewanee, Vanderbilt, and Virginia. Virginia and North Carolina soon dropped before the inaugural 1895 season, the conference was originally formed for the development and purification of college athletics throughout the South. In 1903, a single-game football playoff occurred, but it seems to have been coordinated more so by the two competing schools than the conference itself, several other efforts over the years by individual schools to hold a conference title game fell through. Most SIAA titles claimed by schools in sports were actually more mythical in nature than officially sanctioned by the league. In 1915, a disagreement arose within the conference regarding the eligibility of freshman athletes, generally, the larger universities opposed the eligibility of freshman players, while the smaller schools favored it. As a result, some of the universities formed the Southern Intercollegiate Conference. At the conferences annual meeting on December 10,1920, the SIAA rejected proposals to ban freshman athletes, in protest, some schools that had voted in favor of the propositions immediately announced they would seek to form a new conference. In 1922, the Southern Conference underwent an expansion and added six more members, all at the expense of the SIAA, Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane, and Vanderbilt. With the departure of most of the colleges, the SIAA became a de facto small college conference in 1923. In the 1920s and 1930s, the SIAA increased its membership with the addition of additional small universities. The conference eventually disbanded in 1942 with the onset of American involvement in World War II, original charter members are denoted in boldface. Invited charter members are denoted with an asterisk, in the era in which the SIAA operated, teams tended to join in December, therefore, the first year of conference play in a given sport was often the following calendar year. Conference affiliations reflect those for the 2016–17 school year
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Dan McGugin
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Daniel Earle McGugin was an American football player and coach, as well as a lawyer. He served as the football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and again from 1919 to 1934. He is the winningest head coach in the history of the university, McGugin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951 as part of its inaugural class. Zipp Newman once wrote “I believe Dan McGugin would have gone down in history as the greatest of all coaches had he given all of his time to coaching. He was a great play-maker, but football was a sport for the beloved McGugin and law was his profession. ”McGugin was born in July 1879 on a farm near Tingley and he was the son of Benjamin Franklin McGugin and Melissa McGugin. He was of Scottish and Irish descent, McGugin saw the baton twirling skills of W. W. Wharton in Tingley for a Sunday evening church service one day in 1896 and was intrigued. Wharton, Drake Universitys first football coach, suggested he play football instead, come to Drake University, Wharton suggested, and well make you as fine a tackle as there is. McGugin enrolled at Drake University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1901 and he played football at Drake for two years at the guard and tackle positions and was considered one of the best players that Drake ever had. After one victory he purchased a small cannon and fired it at regular fifteen-minute intervals, nodding politely to neighbors Sabbath complaints. After graduating from Drake, McGugin enrolled in law school at the University of Michigan, while there, McGugin played college football for Fielding H. Yost. He was a player on Michigans Point-a-Minute teams that outscored their opponents,1,211 to 12 in 1901 and 1902, as a guard he is careful yet nervy. He gets the jump on his opponents and keeps the advantage, although a hard player he goes into each scrimmage with as much composure as if he were walking along the campus. McGugin, although good in every department of his position, has two qualities that are pre-eminent, namely, making interference and opening holes, heston has been especially fortunate this year in having a good interference, and part of that interference has been McGugin. McGugin was the football coach for the Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University from 1904 to 1917. During his tenures, the Vanderbilt Commodores compiled a 197–55–19 record, had a.762 winning percentage, and won 11 conference titles. He had numerous intersectional triumphs, defeating the Carlisle Indians in 1906, and tying the Navy Midshipmen in 1907, the Yale Bulldogs in 1910, McGugin used his mentor Yosts short punt formation. In his first career game, McGugins team defeated Mississippi A&M and he went on to win his next two games by 60 points as well. He remains the only coach in NCAA history to win his first three games by 60 points and he also won each of his first 11 games by more than 20 points
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Short punt formation
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The short punt formation is an older formation on both offense and defense in American football, popular when scoring was harder and a good punt was itself an offensive weapon. In times when punting on second and third down was fairly common, teams would line up in the short punt formation and offer the triple threat of punt, harpers Weekly in 1915 called it the most valuable formation known to football. The formation is similar to the wing and modern shotgun by including the possibility of a long snap from center. However, it is generally a balanced formation, and there are backs on both sides of the tailback, offering better pass protection, as a result, it was considered a much better passing formation than running, as the premiere running formation was the single wing. That said, it was regarded as a formation for trap plays The formation was invented by Amos Alonzo Stagg in 1896. Andy Smith, coach of Californias Wonder Teams summed up the short-punt philosophy with his motto of Kick, in the early days of the sport the ball was often moved up the field, not through offensive plays, but rather through punting. Once the opposing team got the ball, the defense was relied upon to make the teams offense lose yards or fumble. To confuse the opponent and attain longer punts, the punting was often done on first or second downs, the formation was used extensively by Fielding Yosts point-a-minute, hurry up Michigan Wolverines in their early history, as well as his disciple Dan McGugins Vanderbilt Commodores. Bill Roper used the short punt at Princeton, the short punt was the base formation for the Benny Friedman-led New York Giants in 1931. In the 1956 NFL Championship, the Chicago Bears shifted into a punt formation in the third quarter, after falling way behind. Glossary of American football Early history of American football Punt
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Alfred T. Adams
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Alfred Thompson Adams was an attorney and an American football and basketball player and coach. He played for the Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University, Alfred Thompson Adams was born on January 8,1898 in Nashville, Tennessee to Adams Gillespie Adams, II and Sue Howell. He was the son, and his father died early in Adams life. At Vanderbilt he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, S in 1918 and an LL. B from Vanderbilt Law School in 1921. Adams was a prominent member of Dan McGugins Vanderbilt Commodores football teams, Adams was selected as an All-Southern end in 1917 and 1919. He was captain of the 1917 football team, the last non-senior to be such until 2003, Adams was selected All-Southern in 1917, a season which featured the souths first national champion in Georgia Tech. Tech gave Vandy its worst ever loss,83 to 0, Adams praised Tech, Techs magnificent machine won easily over Vanderbilt. It was simply the matter of a splendid eleven winning over an unseasoned, inexperienced team, Tech played hard, clean football, and we were somewhat surprised to meet such a fair, aggressive team, after the reports we had heard. I think that Vanderbilt could have broken that Tech shift if we had had last years eleven, being outweighed, Vanderbilt could not check the heavy forwards, or open up the line. Adams played on the 1920 SIAA championship team with the likes of Josh Cody, in 1920 he coached the Hume-Fogg High School football team. Following his passing the bar, Adams entered practice with his uncle R. B. C. Howell, oral history interview with Judge Alfred Thompson Adams
6.
Vanderbilt Stadium
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Vanderbilt Stadium is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, Vanderbilt Stadium hosted the Tennessee Oilers and the first Music City Bowl in 1998 and also hosted the Tennessee state high school football championships for many years. Vanderbilt Stadium is the smallest football stadium in the Southeastern Conference, the first facility was named for William Dudley, Dean of the Vanderbilt University Medical School from 1885 until his death in 1914. Dudley was responsible for the formation of the SIAA, the predecessor of the Southern Conference and Southeastern Conference, in 1895, in 1922, after a 74.2 winning percentage during the 18-year tenure of Coach McGugin, the Commodores had outgrown old Dudley Field. The football team played two games on the renamed Curry Field before moving to New Dudley Field in 1922, the new stadium, the first in the South built solely for football, was christened Dudley Field, and its capacity was 20,000. As evidence of Vanderbilts stature at the time, it dwarfed rival Tennessees Shields-Watkins Field, the first game played at Dudley Field was between the home-standing Commodores and the powerful Michigan Wolverines. A goal-line stand by the Commodores preserved a 0-0 tie, the following Friday, nearby Hume-Fogg High School played a game at Dudley. Senior Jimmy Armistead returned the kick for a touchdown, providing the first touchdown ever recorded in the stadium. Armistead would go on to a career at Vanderbilt and was the captain. In 1949, Vanderbilt officials built a press box at Dudley Field. Additional seating was added to the western side of stadium. On September 25,1954, Vanderbilt hosted the No, 10-ranked Baylor Bears in the first night game ever played on the Dudley Field surface. The lights had been installed so that Dudley Field would be able to host the Billy Graham Crusade on campus, in 1960, nearly 7,000 more seats are added to the stadium, with an expansion on the east side of the stadium near Memorial Gym. At a price of $250,000, officials installed what was then a state-of-the-art Astroturf synthetic surface in 1970, over the winter and spring of 1980–81, most of the Dudley Field grandstand was demolished. The 12,088 seats on each sideline—the only vestige of the old stadium—were raised ten feet through the use of 22 hydraulic jacks on each side of the stadium, the new venue was rechristened Vanderbilt Stadium. However, the surface itself is still called Dudley Field. The rebuilt stadium and its Fred Russell Press Box were designed to resemble a United States naval vessel slicing through the water—a nod to Vanderbilts naval themed-mascot, accordingly, the color scheme picked for the exterior of the stadium was battleship gray. The stadiums maximum capacity after the 1980–81 renovation was 41,000, the project cost $10.1 million, and the Commodores celebrated a sold-out dedication by taking a 23–17 comeback win over Maryland on September 12,1981
7.
1916 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
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The 1916 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the 1916 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The 1916 season was Dan McGugins 13th year as head coach, quarterback Rabbit Curry was selected third-team All-America by Walter Camp. Tennessee upset Vanderbilt 10–6 in 1916, vanderbilts lone score came on a 70-yard run by Rabbit Curry. The years only unanimous All-Southern Graham Vowell scored Tennessees winning touchdown, the starting lineup was Adams, Cody, Williams, Hamilton, Harman, Lipscomb, Cohen, Curry, Floyd, Zerfoss, Ray. Vanderbilt eliminated Auburn from SIAA title contention by a 20–9 score, josh Cody carried the ball over for the first touchdown. Rabbit Curry played well at the start, but could not play the game due to an ankle injury. Moon Ducote made a 45-yard field goal in the quarter to put the Tigers up 9–7. With the help of the pass, the Commodores scored two further touchdowns in the last quarter. The starting lineup was Zerfoss, Cody, Williams, Hamilton, Carman, Lipscomb, Cohen, Curry, Richardson, Beasley, Vanderbilt and rival Sewanee fought to a scoreless tie. Red Floyd fumbled in the shadow of the goalpost, a History of Southern Football 1890–1928
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1918 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
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Coach Morrison was asked to fill in for Dan McGugin who was in the US Army at the time. The Commodores usual coach, Dan McGugin, was on leave from Vanderbilt for Army duty, coach Morrison played at Vanderbilt from 1908 to 1911 playing halfback and quarterback for McGugin. After leaving Vanderbilt as a player he moved to coaching, his first head coaching job was at SMU from 1915 to 1916, during the two-year period of 1917 and 1918 without varsity football, two unofficial teams were formed from Army recruits and students. One of these teams that represented the University of Tennessee was the Student Army Training Corps. There was a game played that afternoon on Vanderbilts original Dudley Field, according to the Nashville Tennessean and the Nashville American, the game was to benefit the United War Work Fund. When the Tennessee clan comes down from the mountains and comes to Dudley Field around 2,30 oclock today. It dates back to the fall of 1916, when the Vol eleven surprised Vandy with a 10−6 defeat, yes, the Black and Gold must be vindicated today. The Journal and Tribune in Knoxville reported before the game, It is expected that the Orange and White players will give an account of themselves in the game today. Eleven goes against Vanderbilt, at Nashville and this is a clear reference to the football team representing UT as the Student Army Training Corps. Vanderbilt won the game by a score of 74–0 and the Vols were always referred to as the University of Tennessee and not Student Army Training Corps. The Journal and Tribune reported on the results, Against the University of Tennessee weak resistance. Berryhill, the sensational Vanderbilt back, had one of the greatest days of his football career accounting for six of the elevens dozen touchdowns against the Knoxville clan, berryhills six touchdowns are not in the Vanderbilt record book probably because this would not be considered the modern era. Frank Mordicas five touchdowns in 1978 are listed as the Vanderbilt record for most touchdowns in a single game, an authority on Vanderbilt football history was the late Nashville Banner sportswriter Fred Russell. The retreat turned into a bloody, hopeless rout, Berryhill was cited for bravery for his wonderful outflanking the enemy, by which he took six positions single-handedly. Russell records the game in his book as a victory for the Commodores, Vanderbilt beat the rival Sewanee Tigers 40–0, a larger score than had been expected. Bunt Beasley was the star of the game, scoring three touchdowns, the starting lineup was Baker, Davis, Reed, Early, Reeves, Owen, Goar, Sherman, Berryhill, Lockman, Beasley
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1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team
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The 1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team represented the Georgia Institute of Technology in American football during the 1917 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The Golden Tornado, coached by John Heisman in his 14th year as coach, compiled a 9–0 record. Heisman considered the 1917 team his best, and for years it was considered the greatest football team the South had ever produced. The backfield of Albert Hill, Everett Strupper, Joe Guyon, and Judy Harlan led the Golden Tornado, and all four rushed for more than 100 yards in a 48–0 victory over Tulane. During the regular season Georgia Tech defeated strong opponents by large margins, Techs 83–0 victory over Vanderbilt is the worst loss in Vanderbilt history, and its 63–0 defeat of Washington & Lee was the worst loss in W&L history at the time. Tech finished the season by defeating Auburn 68–7, clinching the conference title, Davidson and Auburn were the only teams to score points against Georgia Tech. Because of the American entry into World War I in April, however, Georgia Tech had an increasing enrollment and bright prospects for its football team after its undefeated 1916 season. Losses from the previous seasons team included guard Bob Lang and fullback Tommy Spence, in 1917 football used a one-platoon system, in which players played both offense and defense. Fifteen of the 21 players on the 1917 roster were from the state of Georgia, the teams captain was tackle Walker Big Six Carpenter. Its renowned backfield consisted of quarterback Al Hill, halfback Everett Strupper, halfback Joe Guyon, Coach John Heismans swift backfield used the pre-snap movement of his jump shift offense, and Al Hill led the team in carries. Ev Strupper, arguably the best of the four, was deaf, because of his deafness. When Strupe tried out for the team, he noticed that the quarterback shouted the signals every time he was to carry the ball, realizing that the loud signals would be a tip-off to the opposition, Strupper told Heisman, Coach, those loud signals are absolutely unnecessary. You see when sickness in my kid days brought on this deafness my folks gave me the best instructors obtainable to teach me lip-reading, Heisman recalled how Strupper overcame his deafness, He couldnt hear anything but a regular shout. But he could read your lips like a flash, no lad that ever stepped on a football field had keener eyes than Everett had. The enemy found this out the minute he began looking for openings through which to run the ball. Joe Guyon, the teams best passer, was a Chippewa Indian who was born on the White Earth Indian Reservation, his brother, Guyon had played for Pop Warner at Carlisle, and had to sit out the 1916 season in accordance with conference transfer rules. He ran through opponents, in contrast to Struppers dodging style, Judy Harlan said about Guyon, Once in a while the Indian would come out in Joe, such as the nights Heisman gave us a white football and had us working out under the lights. Thats when Guyon would give out the blood curdling war whoops, the Golden Tornado opened its season on September 29 with a doubleheader in three inches of mud
